It is a sometimes hazardous and difficult task to clean catfish. Extreme caution is required due to the long and sharp pectoral and dorsal fins or barbs of the catfish which can deliver painful, irritating and sometimes poisonous wounds to anyone handling catfish.
The most common means for cleaning catfish in the field is through the use of a common nail or a spike which is an effective way to restrain the head of the catfish by driving the nail through the head with a hammer onto a board underneath the fish. This is difficult to do efficiently, since the fish cleaner needs to hold the fish, hold the nail and drive the hammer all at the same time.
By means of the instant invention an improved and highly efficient device for holding a catfish safely for skinning and cleaning has been devised. Use of the catfish holder of this invention enables a person to drive a nail or spike simply through the head of the catfish while restraining the head and impale the catfish on a flat board-like member which serves as a base for the catfish. Once safely impaled the catfish is generally killed quickly and is restrained for the conventional skinning and cleaning operation. This is accomplished in the usual fashion by taking a sharp knife and cutting through the skin in front of the dorsal fin and at the rear of the head and down at the sides and back of the barbs or pectoral fins. Pliers are used to pull the skin off and then the fish is gutted and the head may be simply cut off.
The catfish holder is comprised of a simple structure made up of a flat board-like member and a positioning and restraining member which is of a box-like structure for holding the head of the catfish and restraining flopping back and forth movement of the fish. This positioning box-like structure has a U-shaped wall construction which serves as a stop for the front of the head while the side walls restrain the sidewise movement of the head.
The box-like head restraining structure further is provided with a hinge plate at the top which holds a spike which is operated in a rotary fashion to impale the head of the catfish by a handle rotably supported on the plate-like member. The spike need be moved only through a short arc of about 30.degree. so that the angle of entry is essentially vertical for a fast and efficient thrust. The handle is rotatable out of the way of the person skinning and cleaning the fish after the impaling of the head is effected.
The top of the box-like structure further serves as a rest or stop for the plate-like member which holds the spike. Thus the spike when operated is stopped short of the board or just barely meets it. In this fashion great force can be brought to bear through the handle with automatic stop means for the spike through the engagement of the plate-like member and the top of the box-like head restraining structure.
The above features are objects of this invention and further objects will appear in the detailed description which follows and will otherwise be apparent to those skilled in the art.
For the purpose of illustration of this invention there is shown in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment thereof. It is to be understood that these drawings are for the purpose of example only and that the invention is not limited thereto.